The Office of Alumni Engagement is promoting best practices for the use of email and other forms of technology to communicate with alumni. We are also launching an email communications initiative to enable clubs to more easily communicate with their members on a regular basis. Please consider sharing this memo with your club’s board, webmaster and individual responsible for communications.

The Office of Alumni Engagement has access to the University’s database system, which is continually being expanded and updated. SU has email addresses for over 100,000 alumni and the University is launching new efforts to expand this list. Because of this, we feel the best way to reach alumni electronically is to utilize the service we provide. On behalf of all clubs, the Office of Alumni Engagement will send free broadcast emails to announce events, send electronic newsletters, or announce other club news. This service is available to all clubs. Clubs that have a broadcast email they would like to send to alumni in their area should fill out the Broadcast Email Request Form. Questions can be addressed to Sherry Hayes in the Office of Alumni Engagement, slhayes@syr.edu

Guidelines for Preparing Your Broadcast Information

Include all pertinent information such as what and where the event is, any associated costs, relevant details, directions as needed, RSVP if needed, a contact name and number or email address for questions regarding the event. Please include ONLY the information you would like in the broadasst email.

We will “dress up” your broadcast to look professional. If there are specific graphics you would like to use, please include them in your email.

Some formats are better than others. When sending a broadcast email, we must create an HTML version and a text version to conform to SPAM guidelines. If possible, please send us your broadcast in HTML format. If that is not possible, a Word or text document will suffice. Please note that we most likely will not be able to use a highly designed invitation or notification. We can do our best to recreate the look and feel as is provided, but make no guarantees. We do not send out PDFs or JPGs in their entirety to our alumni. If sending in one of the less optimal formats, please include a text version.

Your request MUST include a timeframe of when you would like it sent. If it’s not a specific date, some indication of when you would like it to go out is necessary. Keep in mind that we attempt to turn around all broadcast requests in 5 business days and that it is most efficient to mail out two weeks in advance of your RSVP deadline. Please plan accordingly, keeping in mind that we do schedule around other broadcasts sometimes going out to the same audience.

Please indicate if you would like any type of feedback on your mailing. We are able to automatically track how many alumni the email was sent to and how many opened it. This information can be sent upon request.

Thank you for your hard work and cooperation. We are always striving to serve you better and, by working together, can make the broadcast email process as efficient and effective as possible.